The 250,000-square-foot Class A office building (pictured here), to be called The Offices at Town Center, will be the 600-acre development’s first structure of its type. Construction could start this fall, according to the morning daily.

A fall groundbreaking also could be on tap for the 123-room Hampton, to be developed by Chartwell Hospitality. That entity recently finished it Hilton Garden Inn in SoBro.

The team behind Alabama-based Moe's Original Bar B Que has begun working on its second Middle Tennessee location, the downtown Franklin site formerly home to both a Copper Kettle outpost and Uncle Bud's Catfish Shack. The restaurant is expected to open its doors around Labor Day and be able to house 85 people inside and another 50 on a patio. Check out more info here.

My family and I are humbled by the support and prayers we have received over the past few weeks.

The support from the Williamson County community, including parents, former parents, students, Williamson Inc. and the business community, and Williamson County Schools employees has been overwhelming. I also appreciate the support of the Williamson County School Board members who have worked with County Mayor Rogers Anderson and Williamson County Commissioners.

I want to thank the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education for allowing me to get to know them and for allowing me to explore the opportunity of working for boys and girls in Nashville. I was impressed with the warm reception I received. It is evident the Board’s focus is on student success, and I am encouraged about the future of MNPS.

After careful consideration, I have made the decision to remain in Williamson County Schools in order to continue our journey to becoming a district recognized nationally in the academics, athletics, and the arts.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking to add 55 people to its tax return processing staff on International Drive in Cool Springs. The full-time seasonal positions are expected to be for six months starting in mid-December but could be extended. The salaries will range from about $32,000 to more than $41,000.

Publix and Boyle Investment Co. officials announced today they are targeting at 46,000-square-foot grocery store for the mixed-use Berry Farms in Williamson County.

For the 600-acre master-planned community, located at at the corner of Lewisburg Pike and Goose Creek Bypass, Boyle is serving as the developer; HMHA, the architect; and First Tennessee Bank, the lender, according to a release.

“Although South Franklin is experiencing significant residential growth with subdivisions like Berry Farms, the Highlands of Ladd Park and Stream Valley, the area is currently underserved with grocery, restaurants and retail shops,” Grant Kinnett (pictured), who handles retail leasing for Boyle, said in the release. “The Publix grocery store is planning a summer 2016 opening, along with 20,000 SF of additional retail space all within walking distance for the residents of Berry Farms. The total project will be $12.5 million, and will consist of Publix, restaurants, services and specialty retail.” Renderings attached.

The first two phases of development of Berry Farms are completed and offer about 130 residences and 27,000 square feet of commercial retail businesses. Boyle projects 1,100 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of retail and 3 million square feet of office space.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics this week published its regular report on job and wage growth in the nation's counties, this time for the fourth quarter of 2014. The report makes for fun reading for some in the local economic development community: Williamson County's 6.1 percent job growth rate last year ranks fifth nationally in the BLS' large-county category while the 4.9 percent increase in average wages put the county in the top 50. Similarly, Rutherford County's job growth of 3.9 percent easily outpaced the nation's 2.2 percent pace.

Davidson County's strong growth of 3.6 percent, however, is made a good bit more sobering when put alongside its wage numbers, which clocked in at just 1.5 percent. That put the heart of Middle Tennessee and the home of more than half its jobs all the way in 306th out of 340 counties. With the mayoral race heating up, we're thinking the topic of wages and bringing quality jobs to Davidson County will quickly move up the agenda from here.

So it turns out the glitzy parts of Nashville — downtown, West End, The Gulch and the like — aren't the only area office submarkets where space now costs more than $30 per square foot.

The leaders of Franklin Financial Network last week signed 15-year lease papers for almost 17,000 square feet that's been built onto their downtown Franklin headquarters by a company controlled by bank directors Henry Brockman and David Kemp.

Franklin Financial's starting rent is $33.25, which is $4.50 more than Spectrum Emery Properties is asking for its big and shiny One Franklin Park building located a few miles northeast. Even taking into account the "friendly" nature of the deal — which includes a clause allowing that rental rate to rise between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent annually — the lease tells us the Nashville-area property market is in fine fettle, to say the least.

It's been a few quarters since we've passed on information about Williamson County's economic development pipeline. The latest word from the county's chamber of commerce shows that it is contention for about 30 projects that could bring with them almost 7,200 jobs. The first number is in line with where things stood last summer but the jobs number has dropped more than 3,000.